Something to do with residency Folkiedave.

As to the Vestey's and the likes of Phillip Green, whether they should pay UK tax or not depends on where they are domiciled. The Vestey's tax arrangements go way back to the time that Lloyd George was Prime Minister. They may own a mansion and an estate in the UK but if they are not domiciled in the UK for tax purposes then they don't pay anything. Dockyard workers working for the MOD in places like Gibraltar, Malta, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc used to qualify for this after having been out there for about three years. One of the reasons a General Service Commission for one of HM Ships was restricted to two and a half years was so that the crew would not qualify and as such were always subject to full UK tax.

If you can work at it you can attain "Resident but not domiciled" status which lifts you clear off UK Tax. I could never do that as I had a wife and family resident in the UK, therefore I was "Resident and domiciled" in the UK and as such always fully subject to UK tax, but that did not stop me from avoiding as much of it as possible.

Now questions for you Folkiedave:
- Who was it that introduced the 10% Tax band - Labour or Conservative?
- Who was it lowered basic rate tax to 20% in the UK - Labour or Conservative?

I left the UK about ten years ago. Where I live now the tax rates are much higher, but the standard of living and quality of life is correspondingly higher than that of the UK. What gets collected in tax gets spent on all the right things and one can see the improvements in standards and services.

In about a years time I collect my pension from the Royal Navy, few years after that my OAP from the UK Government, a couple after that my pension from the Company I now work for and shortly after that my own personal pension kicks in. As I said Folkiedave I paid only what I had to and I never had any cause for complaint with regard to services and advice rendered by my accountant. There's absolutely nothing stopping anybody from doing the same.